New projects and offshore boost mixed results for developers

WORLDWIDE: Danish utility Orsted (formerly Dong Energy) reported its overall underlying third-quarter operating profit was down 10% on the same period last year, but its earnings from operating offshore projects increased by 39% as a result of the 258MW Burbo Bank Extension coming online.

After selling half of its 659MW Walney Extension site to a consortium of Danish pension funds, the developer revised its 2017 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) outlook for the year from DKK 17-19 billion (€2.28-2.55 billion) to DKK 19-21 billion.

EDP Renovaveis (EDPR) saw its Q3 adjusted net profit from operations in Europe and the Americas reach €160 million, a 45% year-on-year rise. EDPR also reported an 11% third-quarter rise in revenues to €1.35 billion on the back of a 10% increase in overall production, mainly in the US, and a 10% rise in the average selling price in its principal European market, Spain.

EDPR installed 827MW of additional wind capacity in North America in the past year.

Innogy's renewable-energy projects produced 6.9TWh of power between January and September — a 10.4% drop in output year on year. But due to new customers and "supplying more electricity" it sold 193.1TWh of power — 8.1% more than in the same period last year.

Innogy's Ebitda totalled €3.1 billion, up 5.3% year on year, while its external revenue of €30.79 billion represented a 2.1% fall on the same period last year.

The company described its grid business as the "main driver" behind its growth in earnings. The commissioning of new onshore wind farms also had a positive effect, the German utility added.

Spain's Iberdrola said pre-tax earnings for the group's renewable business totalled €1.14 billion — the same as last year. Revenues grew 2.9% to €1.88 billion.

The results were aided by strong production in the UK, the US and Brazil.

Vattenfall saw underlying operating profit in its wind division fall to a SEK 300 million (€31 million) loss in Q3, down from a loss of SEK 117 million (€12 million) in the same three-month period of 2016. The Swedish utility blamed cable and grid outages at some of its offshore wind projects for the loss.

However, underlying operating profit increased 56% to SEK 725 million in the first nine months of 2017, up from SEK 480 million a year earlier, thanks to the additional wind capacity Vattenfall commissioned this year.

EnBW said its Ebitda grew by just 1% to €224.8 million in the first nine months of 2017 due to lower production and prices in the hydropower sector. Wind compensated for hydro losses, with higher output from the Baltic 1 and 2 offshore wind projects.

In September, the German utility said it commissioned more onshore wind farms than in any other single month, taking its total onshore capacity to 450MW.

The sale of a 48.98% stake in the 497MW Hohe See offshore wind project to Canadian firm Enbridge helped group net profit for the first nine months of 2017 reach €1.87 billion, up from just €192.5 million last year.

The sale of project rights in the US and Sweden helped push PNE Wind's operating profit for the first nine month of the year up to €23.65 million from €7.18 million in 2016, while its revenues reached €81.23 million, up from €77.09 million. PNE Wind said its results "create scope" for a 200MW pipeline of unspecified wind projects.

Canada's Innergex reported Q3 revenue of C$108.2 million (US$85.3 million), a 36% increase on the same period in 2016, mainly due to commissioning a 149MW project in Canada last year and the purchase of six projects in France in 2016 and 2017.

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